Sporting-shoe



(No Model.)

B. KUHN.

SPORTING SHOE. I No. 584,373. Patented June 15, 1897.

3331112132 momma Nrrnn EDUARD KUHN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SPORTING-SHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 584,373, dated June 15, 1897. Application filed January 2, 1897. Serial No. 617,852. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDUARD KUHN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful form of Sporting-Shoe, of which the following is a specification.

Said sporting-shoe is especially adapted for the use of persons having considerable outof -door exercise-such as bicyclists, lawntennis and base-ball players, soldiers, 850.- in fact for all persons requiring a strong but flexible, elastic, and durable shoe.

My invention relates to improvements in shoes, the object in view being to produce a shoe of perfect fit and good wearing qualities, said shoes also to have a strong but perfectly elastic and flexible sole.

The shoe hereinafter described is suitable for general use, but is especially adapted for use in bicycling and outdoor games.

The qualities of perfect fitting and strength, combined with flexibility and durability, are obtained by the construction shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the shoe; Fig. 2, a plain View of the sole; Fig. 3, a cross-section of one of the strips of'leather or rubber which form part of the sole of the shoe.

Similar figures of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

As will be seen in Fig. 1, the shoe is composed of the upper 1, of leather, canvas, or other suitable material, sewed to part- 3, which said part 3 is the side of the inner sole crimped up in such a manner that no vertical seam is required at the end of the heel. Fastened to the sole 4 and across it are strips 5, of leather, rubber, or other suitable material, (shown enlarged in Fig. 3,) said strips being produced by bending the sheet of rubber, leather, or whatever the strips may be desired of in such a manner thatthe ends of said sheet will be brought to point at right angles to the soles, hence presenting What is called the end grain as wearing-surface, which insures a good-wearing sole. Said strips 5 are fastened to sole 4 along the junction of their ends, (indicated by line 6 6, Fig. 2, and dotted line 7, Fig. 3,) all across the sole, as well as through a seam 8 on the outside line of the sole. Strips 5 being in this way fastened, it will be seen that if the sole 4is bent in walking said strips 5 will rock on their center points 9, allowing thereby an unusual amount of flexibility, which could not be obtained if the sole as a whole were composed of one solid piece. Such being the case, the shoe adapts itself for the use of the bicyclist, allowing the sole to bend in between the two supporting-ridges of the pedal, whereby slipping is prevented. Said strips 5 being narrow, they can be produced of material which would ordinarily be wasted. Hence the shoe is inexpensive to produce.

The construction described can be modified in different ways.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a shoe, boot or slipper, the sole made thicker, stronger and more durable, and at the same time more flexible, than an ordinary sole heretofore used, by strips of leather, rubher or any other suitable material, bent over and fastened across the sole by sewing, tacking or by other means, along or near the center line of the bent strip, substantially as described.

EDUARD KUHN.

Witnesses:

GEO. M. MAYER, H. VON DOEMMING. 

